East of the Ered Luin was a land encircled by four mountain ranges: the [[Ered Luin]] to the West, the [[Ered Engrin]] to the North, the [[Hithaeglir]] ([[Misty Mountains]]) to the East, and some of the [[White Mountains]] to the South. Passing even further East, over the Hithaeglir, you would come to [[Anduin]] (the Great River) and eventually [[Palisor]], the [[Sea of Helcar|Inland Sea of Helcar]], the [[Orocarni]], and the [[East Sea]].

East of the Ered Luin was a land encircled by four mountain ranges: the [[Ered Luin]] to the West, the [[Ered Engrin]] to the North, the [[Hithaeglir]] ([[Misty Mountains]]) to the East, and some of the [[White Mountains]] to the South. Passing even further East, over the Hithaeglir, you would come to [[Anduin]] (the Great River) and eventually [[Palisor]], the [[Sea of Helcar|Inland Sea of Helcar]], the [[Orocarni]], and the [[East Sea]].

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After the end of the First Age and the drowning of Beleriand, the geography east of the Ered Luin shifted. The Ered Luin themselves, now broken up and disfigured, marked the western border of [[Eriador]], and thence [[Lindon]] and Belegaer itself. Eriador, now the Westernmost part of Middle-earth, was bordered on the East by the Hithaeglir, the Misty Mountains, which stretched down south to the [[White Mountains]] and the [[Bay of Belfalas]]. Across the Misty Mountains from Eriador was [[Rhovanion (region)|Rhovanion]], which extended east to the [[Sea of Rhûn]] and the vast [[Rhûn|lands]] beyond. Within Rhovanion were the great forest of [[Mirkwood]], the forest of [[Fangorn]], and the many-rivered area that would become known as [[Gondor]]. To the east was the region of [[Mordor]], encircled on three sides by mountains. To the far north of Rhovanion was the icy [[Forodwaith]].

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After the end of the First Age and the drowning of Beleriand, the geography east of the Ered Luin shifted. The Ered Luin themselves, now broken up and disfigured, marked the western border of [[Eriador]], and thence [[Lindon]] and Belegaer itself. Eriador, now the Westernmost part of Middle-earth, was bordered on the East by the Hithaeglir, the Misty Mountains, which stretched down south to the [[White Mountains]] and the [[Bay of Belfalas]]. Across the Misty Mountains from Eriador was [[Rhovanion (region)|Rhovanion]], which extended east to the [[Sea of Rhûn]] and the vast [[Rhûn|lands]] beyond. Within Rhovanion were the great forest of [[Mirkwood]], the forest of [[Fangorn]], and the many-rivered area that would become known as [[Gondor]]. To the east was the region of [[Mordor]], encircled on three sides by mountains. To the far north of Rhovanion was the icy [[Forodwaith (lands)|Forodwaith]].

==Inspiration==

==Inspiration==

Revision as of 18:41, 2 March 2010

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Middle-earth (Q.Endor) was a large continent of Arda, situated east of Aman, across Belegaer. It is here that many of the epic tales of Arda were played out, for it was in the north of this realm that Morgoth dwelt, and here where he bitterly fought with Elves, Men, Maiar and Valar.

Contents

Geography

Middle-earth is a large continent, a mass of land that occupies the central regions of Arda. It lays between two continents; Aman, the uttermost West from which is separated by the ocean Belegaer, and the Land of the Sun, at the uttermost East which the East Sea separates.

After the end of the First Age and the drowning of Beleriand, the geography east of the Ered Luin shifted. The Ered Luin themselves, now broken up and disfigured, marked the western border of Eriador, and thence Lindon and Belegaer itself. Eriador, now the Westernmost part of Middle-earth, was bordered on the East by the Hithaeglir, the Misty Mountains, which stretched down south to the White Mountains and the Bay of Belfalas. Across the Misty Mountains from Eriador was Rhovanion, which extended east to the Sea of Rhûn and the vast lands beyond. Within Rhovanion were the great forest of Mirkwood, the forest of Fangorn, and the many-rivered area that would become known as Gondor. To the east was the region of Mordor, encircled on three sides by mountains. To the far north of Rhovanion was the icy Forodwaith.

Inspiration

Tolkien created Arda, including and especially Middle-earth, for his languages Quenya and Sindarin, especially the latter as it turned out. To Tolkien, a scholar of the Anglo-Saxon language, Middle-earth was the English translation of the Old English word middanġeard. This word was transformed in the Middle English midden-erd or middel-erd, and the Old Norse Midgard. This is English for what the Greeks called the οικουμένη (oikoumenē) or "the abiding place of men", the physical world as opposed to the unseen worlds (The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, 151).